In order to keep a refrigerator cool, a thermodynamic refrigeration cycle is applied thereto, and a process of compressing a refrigerant in a gas-phase state is inevitably required in such a cycle. Since a compressor requires rotational power, a motor structure including a stator and a rotor is generally embedded in the compressor.
Rotation of the motor causes noise and also causes vibration. Although the noise of the motor itself can be blocked or limited to some extent, another noise caused by the vibration is not easy to be blocked and is very disruptive to a user. Since the refrigerator is usually installed indoors, this noise can cause considerable inconvenience in a residential environment close to a kitchen and a living space.
Therefore, the compressor should not be installed by simply fixing the compressor in a machine room of the refrigerator, and the compressor has to be fixed in the machine room using a vibration absorbing structure which functions as a vibration absorbing damper.
FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a conventional compressor. Conventionally, in order to fix a compressor on a base, posts are mounted on the base, which constitutes a floor of a machine room, in a perpendicular direction, an ear mount 22 of a compressor 20 is fitted onto the post while a vibration absorber formed of rubber or the like is mounted on a lower side of the post, and the compressor 20 is disposed on the vibration absorber. That is, the ear mount 22 of the compressor 20 is restricted in all directions by the post and is disposed on the base with the vibration absorber interposed therebetween.
The conventional compressor 20 has a shape which is slightly higher in a vertical direction in consideration of an area thereof in all directions, and the ear mount 22 is positioned at a lower level than a lower end of a main body 21 of the compressor. Since the compressor 20 has a structure in which the ear mount 22 is formed to protrude outward from the main body in a top view, an operator can sufficiently view the ear mount 22 in a side view as well as in the top view while he is fixing the compressor.
However, in this type of compressor, a height thereof in the vertical direction is large, and a mounting height of the compressor in the vertical direction is also large because the ear mount is positioned lower than the lower end of the main body. Therefore, in the above-described type of conventional compressor, the compressor cannot be mounted in a machine room unless a machine room has a sufficient height. Particularly, when the compressor-mounting process is performed after the base of the machine room has been installed at the cabinet through the insulator foaming process, it is inconvenient to mount the compressor from the rear of the refrigerator to the machine room.
That is, since the shape of the conventional compressor and a mounting method of the compressor require a considerable level of the height of the machine room to be secured, an occupied volume of the machine room of an entire volume of the refrigerator needs to be increased, and thus it is difficult to secure a storage space of the cabinet.